Scaling immunity: sickness as a host defense strategy.

A Clare Sparling; Esther Borges Florsheim; Zuri A. Sullivan

doi:10.1016/j.it.2026.03.015

April 30, 2026

Scaling immunity: sickness as a host defense strategy.

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Key Points

The study aims to investigate sickness behavior's role in host defense and its parallels with immunity at different scales.
Examined disease states produced by the brain-immune axis during infection.
Framed sickness behavior within the context of organismal-scale immunity.
Explored correlations with cellular and tissue level immunity.
Sickness behavior is positively correlated with enhanced host defense mechanisms.
Identified parallels between organismal and cellular immunity regarding response to infection.
Proposed a model for understanding sickness as a multifaceted immune response.

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Implication

Explores organismal immunity through sickness behavior, implicating broader defense strategies during infection.

Abstract

Sickness, or sickness behavior, is a state of altered physiology and behavior generated by the brain-immune axis during infection, which is generally assumed to contribute to host defense. Here, we examine this assumption by framing sickness as organismal-scale immunity and explore predicted parallels with immunity at the cellular and tissue scales.

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Cite This Study

Sparling et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69f837933ed186a739981afb https://doi.org/10.1016/j.it.2026.03.015

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Scaling immunity: sickness as a host defense strategy.

Key Points

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Implication

Abstract

Discussion

Cite This Study

Scaling immunity: sickness as a host defense strategy.

Key Points

Ask about this paper

Implication

Abstract

Discussion

Cite This Study

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